As the recent fiasco with body scanners at airports demonstrated, the United States' homeland security strategy is off track.

Terrorism and other disasters demand calmness and preparation, not panic and demagoguery.

President Obama's decision to transfer Guantanamo inmates to an Illinois prison could speed closure of the facility, but the move has raised both security and civil liberties concerns.

The Obama administration has initiated sweeping reviews of homeland security policies set up after 9/11. But any plans for far-reaching changes to the apparatus that oversees domestic security could face congressional pushback.

Benazir Bhutto’s assassination highlights the difficulties of campaign security as U.S. candidates attempt to secure themselves without sacrificing interaction with local communities.

Months before even the first primary vote is cast, the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign is fulfilling expectations as a major contest over foreign policy.

The federal government has placed much of the responsibility for homeland security on state authorities. Some of their early efforts have focused on intelligence collection and analysis.

With most counterterrorism energies focused overseas, decaying infrastructure leaves the United States prone to devastating terrorist attack and natural disasters.

Responsibility for safeguarding the homeland often falls to state and local governments in spite of the increased federal role after 9/11. Of these thousands of agencies, New York City has moved the most aggressively, creating a counterterrorism bureau complete with overseas agents and intelligence analysts.

Security experts believe many U.S. chemical facilities are vulnerable to catastrophic attacks. Improvements have been slow to come, and Congress recently declined to take tough steps called for by experts.

Security experts warn the next terrorist attack on the United States could well be the work of a U.S. citizen. Instrumental in preventing such an attack is the cooperation of an increasingly alienated American Muslim community.

Edward Alden says that as the United States has for the past two decades pursued securing the nation's borders against illegal immigration, the more serious threat to U.S. national security is that ill-conceived or poorly implemented border controls will do lasting damage to the U.S. economy.

Edward Alden says recent progress in the use of biometrics in border control is impressive, but the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department need to tell travelers what is in store.

Leslie H. Gelb comments on the apprehension of the Times Square bomber and "hero mania" in America.

In this excerpt from The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden writes that George Bush came to office as the most pro-immigrant president in modern U.S. history. Yet he presided over a war on terrorism that has been waged through anti-immigrant measures.

As the 113th U.S. Congress considers an overhaul of the country's immigration system, Task Force members Richard Land, Eliseo Medina, and project director Edward Alden discuss U.S. policy options and political prospects for comprehensive change.

This session was a meeting of the Civil Society, Democracy, and Countering Radicalism Roundtable.

This session was part of the HBO History Makers Series.